BOMBAY, 26 October 2006 — The recent statement by National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan that India does not have any hard evidence about the role of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence in Bombay blasts has apparently forced the Bombay police to retract their claim that they had cracked the case and that they had proof of ISI’s involvement in the bombings.
Following Narayanan’s statement, Bombay Police Commissioner Anami Narayan Roy did an about-face when he told journalists Tuesday evening, “Our investigations are now focused on arresting those who had carried out the blasts, and not on collecting evidence against the ISI.” Roy had earlier claimed at a press conference on Sept. 30, that ISI was the mastermind behind the blasts and terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba and Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were also involved.
Asked to comment on Narayanan’s statement that there was no hard evidence against the ISI, Roy said, “I’m not aware of the statement, but the Bombay police have sufficient evidence against those involved in the blasts.”
Charges against the accused will shortly be presented in the court, Roy said adding that there is a provision in the law to allow 45 more days for filing charges after the end of the 90-day period. “We have requested the court to give more time to the police to collect evidence before filing the charges.”
In another development, Khatoonbi Ansari, mother of Sajid Ansari, an accused in the train bombing case, filed a complaint with the judge of the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime court saying her son was tortured in police custody. The judge, Mrudla Bhatkar, has ordered the Anti-Terrorist Squad officials to get Sajid medically examined and produce him in the court.
Khatoonbi said in her complaint that when the police brought her son home during a search operation she noticed several torture marks on his body.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court took up a petition filed by Noor-ul-Huda, a SIMI activist, who was arrested by the Malegaon police for alleged involvement in the recent Malegaon blasts. Huda has appealed to the court to bar the authorities from conducting narco-analysis, brain mapping and lie-detector tests on him. The judge rejected his request.
Another court remanded to police custody till Oct. 30 Raees Ahmed Razak Ali, who was arrested in Malegaon for placing a box containing explosives used in firecrackers at Mohammedia Shopping Complex, causing panic in the area.
